Aogan O Fearghail says the GAA should keep an open mind with regard to its attachment to the national anthem and tricolour.

While on the Opel All Stars tour in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, it was put to the GAA president that the prevalence of the flag and anthem may be an obstacle in terms of attracting non-Irish to play the games overseas, but he claimed it was more of an issue in Ireland.

And if there are new political arrangements in future, O Fearghail stated that the GAA may have to be prepared to move away from some long held traditions.

He said: "There could be further agreements politically at home. There is a massively changing world at home. The Brexit is going to affect the GAA the same as it's going to affect everyone else and it does cause concerns. There might well be political realignments on the island of Ireland.

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"In the future if there are new agreements and new arrangements we'd be open-minded about things like flags and anthems but not in advance of agreements.

"The flag and the anthem means a lot to the GAA and will continue to do so, but who knows in the future? In the future, if there are different agreements in place for the whole of Ireland, of course the GAA would be inclusive in that.

"I don't think the Irish brand is a difficult brand overseas. I think at home it causes more difficulty as such.

"We have to learn from our international units that we should never have closed minds about things that we always thought were precious and sacred. They may well be that but we have to have open minds as to where this could go."